The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 130 Please apologize
On the noisy Zhuque Street, Li Chengqian's steps were not fast. He was reviewing the conversation between him and the general in his mind. Although there were not many words, every word was very important.

First of all, before coming to see the general, I can be sure that my father must have come to see the general many times in private.

Secondly, my father ordered me to come here to ask the general for this scroll on arranging the generals in the army.

This book must not be read easily. Only my father can read it.

Of course, there's no harm in watching it, as long as it doesn't reveal the general's arrangements.

Li Chengqian continued walking with his hands in his pockets, frowning and saying nothing.

Then he talked about Fu Yun, which of course could also be glossed over.

There is also General Li Jing's evaluation of Li Ji.

Perhaps the Emperor just wanted me, the Crown Prince, to meet the General, the military god who had fought for the Tang Dynasty for decades, maybe...

As soon as Li Dejian came out, the general asked to leave.

"Does Li Dejian hold a position in the court?"

His Highness suddenly asked, which made Yu Zhining, who was also lost in thought, come back to his senses. He said, "Li Dejian participated in this year's imperial examination, but failed and did not serve in the court."

Li Chengqian nodded slightly, "The general's son is very ordinary."

Yu Zhining said: "Many people are ordinary."

"Minister Yu is right. There are not so many gifted people in this world."

Li Chengqian put his hands in his pockets and sighed, quite agreeing.

After returning to the Suzaku Gate, Li Ji first handed the book given by General Li Jing to His Majesty.

Li Chengqian and Yu Zhining returned to the Secretariat first.

My uncle and Prime Minister Fang are looking at the documents.

Li Chengqian sat down on the side, with a lot of memorials from various ministries piled up in front of him. After a few days of delay, the various ministries finally submitted the trade regulations.

"teacher?"

"Yeah." Fang Xuanling responded simply.

"Is Master Xu Yu okay?"

When hearing the prince talking about Xu Yushi, Changsun Wuji paused for a moment.

Fang Xuanling said: "The Dali Temple is questioning him. It seems that he has not had any grudges with anyone in recent years."

Li Chengqian asked curiously, "Who wants to assassinate him?"

Fang Xuanling asked in return: "Is this matter important to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince?"

"Isn't it important?"

Fang Xuanling whispered, "The Dali Temple and the Ministry of Justice are already investigating. They are looking for clues from the assassin who committed suicide and are tracing the case step by step. Your Majesty has said that we will investigate thoroughly, and we will definitely investigate thoroughly."

Li Chengqian put his hands in his pockets, listened to the teacher's words, and asked in a low voice: "Teacher, do you mean that the Crown Prince of the East Palace should not be involved in these matters?"

Fang Xuanling gently patted the documents on the table and said, "Your Highness, just take care of these things. There are some things that you don't need to do, and there will be people to help your majesty."

"Thank you for the reminder, teacher."

Having said this, Changsun Wuji's expression relaxed a lot, and he continued to write on the document with his pen. However, just after he had written two rows, he saw the prince come to his side from Fang Xuanling's side.

Zhang Sun Wuji's brows, which had just relaxed, twisted again and he asked, "Your Highness, do you still have any doubts?"

Li Chengqian said, "Most likely my uncle and Fang Xiang said the same thing. They will not tell me anything about the assassination yesterday."

Zhang Sun Wuji sighed, "Your Highness the Crown Prince has misunderstood. I know nothing about the inside story. Since His Majesty ordered a thorough investigation, the secret agents deployed in Chang'an City have already heard the news and moved."

Committing such a crime under the emperor's nose, and being the top-ranked Jinshi this year, it has to be said that the other party is very courageous.

But my father is not someone who can be easily provoked. In order to protect the imperial examination system, I must find the real culprit this time.

Hidden agents? How many hidden agents in Chang'an City are my father's spies?

In addition to the Dali Temple and the Ministry of Justice in public, there are others working for my father behind the scenes.

After all, no matter how things go wrong in Chang'an City, my father cannot be hidden from him.

Although an assassination occurred yesterday, the imperial city is still in order today, and everyone is busy with their own affairs.

It seemed as if everyone had forgotten about this matter tacitly.

Perhaps, they were still discussing the assassination outside Qujiang Lake yesterday while whispering to each other.

But looking again, the court is still the same as before, and it does not affect the normal process of the court. There is a momentum that says "if you have the courage, come and assassinate me again."

Zhang Sun Wuji added: "There is one thing that the prince needs to explain."

Li Chengqian asked suspiciously, "What's the matter?"

"The Tibetan delegation has arrived in Chang'an."

"I know."

"After arriving, the Minister of Rites had a fight with the officials of the Honglu Temple."

"Is this happening?"

Chang Sun Wuji whispered, "There seems to be a misunderstanding about this matter. Your Highness the Crown Prince had better explain it."

Li Chengqian said sadly: "What does it have to do with me?"

Seeing that his uncle was still writing documents, Li Chengqian didn't want to disturb him. He returned to his seat and continued to work on the matter at hand.

The news about the assassination was blocked, and whatever the Dali Temple and the Ministry of Justice found out was reported directly to the emperor.

And judging from the fact that personnel from the Dali Temple and the Ministry of Justice left Guanzhong one after another, the mastermind behind the assassination was most likely not in Guanzhong.

No matter how bizarre this matter is, no matter who is behind it and whoever is challenging the imperial examination system of the Tang Dynasty and challenging his father, they will not allow the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace to participate.

The other side just ignored the fact that the whole court was united in their determination to support the imperial examination system.

After Xu Jingzong finished his work for the day, he hurried out of Jingzhao Prefecture and went to a tavern he often went to to have a drink and a bite to eat.

Shangguan Yi also arrived here at the same time.

The two men sat opposite each other, with two wine bowls on the table.

Xu Jingzong picked up the wine bowl and said, "They are talking more and more about the prince."

Shangguan Yi nodded and said, "I've been very busy lately. I finally got a chance to take a break from Hongwenguan. Does Xu Shaoyin have anything interesting to tell me?"

"I've been very busy. I've been to three counties today."

After saying that, Xu Jingzong took a sip of wine and let out a sigh of relief.

Soon, Guo Luotuo also came.

So, the three of them sat around a table in tacit understanding and drank in silence.

The tavern was very quiet. There were not many customers in the tavern. There were only a few people sitting in groups of three or four, and no one was making loud noises.

Because Xu Jingzong, Shangguan Yi, and Guo Luotuo were all wearing official uniforms.

Everyone just talked in low voices without making any loud noise.

Guo Luotuo ordered another bowl of millet rice and buried his head in eating. He had no friends in the court. Xu Jingzong and Shangguan Yi in front of him were the only two people who treated him as real friends.

Shangguan Yi just picked up the wine bowl, then put it down again, and said worriedly: "The person who can come to Chang'an to assassinate Xu Yushi is not a simple person."

Xu Jingzong whispered: "Who else could it be? It's the group of people who have always opposed the imperial examination system." "There may be more trouble this fall. Wait and see. Many people will die."

The two were talking in low voices, but Guo Luotuo was still concentrating on eating. After he had finished the millet rice in the bowl and filled his mouth, he was still chewing.

After swallowing hard, he said solemnly: "I am going to get married."

Hearing this, Shangguan Yi was surprised and asked, "So fast?"

Xu Jingzong was also surprised, "You said before that no one would marry you."

Guo Luotuo explained with a smile: "It was a marriage arranged by my family. It's a girl from an ordinary farmer's family."

Shangguan Yi smiled and said, "Congratulations, Brother Guo."

"Congratulations, Brother Guo."

They both raised their wine bowls and drank them all in one gulp.

Guo Luotuo also picked up the wine bowl with a smile and drank the wine in the bowl in one gulp, which was rare.

The next day, the wedding was held at Guo Luotuo's home. Not many guests came. Apart from Shangguan Yi, Xu Jingzong, and Li Daozon who came to congratulate, there were no other guests.

I just heard that Guo Luotuo was very happy that night and drank a lot of wine.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince did not come in person, but ordered someone to send two rolls of precious purple cotton silk. This kind of fabric is the best for making outerwear, and it is also the fabric used for making official uniforms in the court.

Guo Luotuo bowed towards the East Palace and said loudly, "Thank you, Your Highness the Crown Prince."

Du He also ordered someone to send a few silver cakes.

This Young Master Duling was always generous when he was generous. He would not say goodbye and would just give silver cakes whenever he wanted. In his own words, he had plenty of money.

It was already night in Chang'an City. Guo Luotuo's home was in a small alley in Chang'an City, and neighbors came to congratulate him on the street.

Guo Luotuo would give a string of copper coins to neighbors who came to congratulate him. It wasn't a lot, maybe around forty or fifty.

Xu Jingzong, Shangguan Yi and Li Daozon left the family. Now Guo Luotuo is the Minister of Agriculture and is highly regarded by the current crown prince.

This person must have a good future.

The next day, just after the morning court session, Li Chengqian was stopped by Li Baiyao.

"I have said it many times, the fight between the Tibetan envoys and you has nothing to do with me."

Li Baiyao followed the prince's footsteps and said, "I also want to send these Tibetan envoys back, but Sambuza is ungrateful and insists on meeting His Royal Highness the Crown Prince before he is willing to go back."

Li Chengqian walked to the East Palace with his hands in his pockets and ordered someone to bring a bowl of noodles to Li Baiyao.

The prince was also eating a bowl of noodles, with Li Baiyao's nagging in his ears.

Li Baiyao was also very old, with more and more white hair in the past two years. He was born in the Boling Li family and was a learned man. In his early years, he taught the crown prince Yang Yong of the Sui Dynasty, and then Yang Guang ascended the throne.

He is also a man who has been busy for half his life and has a miserable fate.

He spent the first half of his life tutoring Crown Prince Yang Yong, and thought he had a bright future. Later, Yang Guang ascended the throne, and he served as an official from Guizhou to Jian'an. Not only was he displaced, but he was also involved in a local mutiny. Later, Fu Gongju rebelled, and Li Baiyao was involved in it again and was exiled to Jingzhou.

His father, the emperor, remembered his talent and reputation, so he was called back and he has been serving in the court ever since.

Looking closely at the first half of his life, I don’t know whether he was really unlucky, or whether most people who survived the turbulent times back then had a similar situation as him.

Li Chengqian finished his bowl of noodles and whispered, "Where is Sambuza?"

Li Baiyao looked delighted and said quickly, "I will go and invite him to the Honglu Temple right away."

The clear and refreshing autumn weather in Guanzhong should be a good time for travel.

Li Chengqian wanted to find an opportunity to take a vacation. As for the assassination, the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace could not be involved in everything.

But we can ask Wei Chang in Jingyang to get information. He is a local figure in Chang'an. Although he is a bad person, he has done a lot of things for the Wei Mansion and the government office.

This person has a good network of contacts, so it is not difficult for him to find out some information.

When he woke up from his lunch break, Li Baiyao arrived. Li Chengqian gave Ning'er a few instructions and followed him all the way to the Honglu Temple.

"Your Highness, there is something I am not sure whether I should tell you."

Li Chengqian said: "You say."

Li Baiyao looked around and whispered, "When the Tibetans attacked Khotan, was it the prince's idea or your majesty's idea to ask the Tibetan prime minister to withdraw his troops?"

Li Chengqian put his hands in his pockets and frowned, "Is this reason important?"

Li Baiyao bowed and said, "It doesn't matter. I was just overthinking it."

Arriving at the gate of Honglu Temple, Li Chengqian walked in and saw Sangbuza sitting alone.

Li Chengqian handed him a meat bun and said, "This is the meat bun from the East Palace. It will also be popular in Chang'an in the future."

Sambuza took the meat bun and swallowed it in big mouthfuls.

Li Chengqian added: "It's just that white bread is a bit expensive, and probably not as widely available as soap."

The meat buns are not small, even bigger than an adult’s open palm.

Sambuza seemed to have not eaten enough in the past few days and was eating voraciously.

And he looked very bad, as if he hadn't slept well in the past few days.

Li Baiyao was standing aside. When the Tubo envoy saw the prince, he seemed to see hope again.

After eagerly eating a bun, Sambuza took another sip of water and said, "Your Highness, this man framed a foreign official."

Li Chengqian turned his head and looked at Li Baiyao standing beside him.

Hearing this, Li Baiyao angrily said, "What a Tibetan envoy! I asked you to see the prince, but you turned against me."

Sambuza said again: "Your Highness, the respected Crown Prince, your Tang officials are too rude!"

Li Chengqian nodded and said, "We are only rude to bad people."

Sambuza emphasized: "I am not a bad person!"

Li Chengqian signaled to Li Baiyao standing beside him to stay calm.

"It's okay. I, Sambuza, don't care." He raised his head and faced the west outside the Honglu Temple, and said loudly: "Our Prime Minister is a wise man. He said that life is like a beautiful piece of wool, but this piece of wool is full of fleas! This is life."

Li Chengqian smiled and said, "Your Prime Minister Lu Dongzan is quite good at using metaphors."

Sang Buzha said loudly: "You can never catch all the fleas. No matter how beautiful life is, it is like this!"

Li Baiyao was unhappy again after hearing this. He shouted, "Who are you calling a flea? I will fight you."

Sambuza looked at Li Baiyao and said, "It's you! You are the flea!"

After saying that, Li Baiyao rolled up his sleeves and was about to rush forward.

The Crown Prince looked back. Li Baiyao took a step back and bowed to express his apology for his impoliteness. He said, "I am sorry for my behavior, but this Tibetan envoy cursed me."

Li Chengqian whispered, "I've heard about it. We Tang people have always been welcoming and hospitable to friends."

Li Baiyao agreed, "That's right."

Li Chengqian continued: "Now please apologize to our Tang officials."

Sambuza bowed to the Tang prince and said, "I apologize for my impoliteness, Your Highness."

"You are not apologizing to me." Li Chengqian gestured to Li Baiyao who was standing beside him with his hands in his pockets, and said, "You should apologize to the Minister of Rites first."

(End of this chapter)